Another Time, Another Place
by k9handler1969
Summary: A Team story inspired by a scene from the 5th season opening episode. Constructive Criticism welcome.


Hannibal leaned back on his bunk, his hands behind his head, thinking about the events of the day. The trial was not going well for them. Hannibal felt betrayed by the shocking news about Colonel Morrison being an NVA spy. That new bit of information had been very damaging to their case. He had regarded Morrison to be his friend as well as his commanding officer.

He was not used to being betrayed by those he thought of as a friend. And then to be accused of murdering that same person, he felt as if someone had stabbed him in the back. Hannibal glanced up to look out at the guard who was stationed on the other side of the bars of his cell. He laid back down, thinking about a plan to escape. He soon fell asleep.

After he fell asleep his mind went back in time. They had just received their final orders from Morrison to go ahead with the mission to Hanoi. To Hannibal something felt all wrong about the way events were unfolding. As he and the team approached the helicopter, Captain H.M. Murdock came running up to him. He stopped and saluted Hannibal and Hannibal returned the salute.

"What is it Captain?" Hannibal asked. Murdock seemed a bit flustered. Things were not going according to the plan, apparently?

"My chopper is down right now Colonel. It'll be a couple of hours before they can fix it. I checked around and there aren't any others available right now. Sorry, there's nothing I can do."

"That's OK, Captain, I guess we will just have to wait. All the other birds in the area are out on rescue and recon hops. Intelligence reports have stated that there seems to be an NVA push into the area right now, so keep on your guard. Captain, go see if you can't hurry up that repair crew a little."

"Yes sir, right away, sir." With a crisp salute to his colonel, Murdock hurried off to check on his bird.

"What now, Hannibal?" Lt. Peck asked.

"I guess we wait, can't do much else." Hannibal then walked off the hot tarmac of the runway over to some shade and sat down to wait. After a couple of hours it was beginning to get dark. Hannibal was getting ancy to be on his way. His plan called for them to be near Hanoi already. At this rate, after Murdock dropped them off they were going to have to hump it to get to the bank on time. He wanted to be able to get in and out during the celebration of the TET New Year because with all the fireworks going off no one would ever hear them.

Murdock came up to Hannibal. "All set, sir, my bird is all ready to go. Let's be on our way."

"Let's go, guys," Hannibal ordered.

Darkness was beginning to fall around the GHQ and the airstrip. Before they got 10 feet several large explosions could be heard in the distance. And a few seconds later, the whistle of incoming shells could be heard overhead.

"Incoming, everybody hit the dirt!" yelled Hannibal as everybody scrambled for cover. Shells were raining all over the place. Hannibal was headed for a foxhole not far from him when a shell exploded nearby and one of the men scrambling for cover went down. Hannibal headed in the other direction, picked him up and headed for the foxhole that the guys had jumped into. He dumped the man he was carrying into the hole and was about to jump in himself when a shell hit near him and everything went black.

He awoke to find himself in an all white room of a hospital. He looked up to find a pretty dark-haired lady standing over his bed. He looked down to see his right leg swathed in bandages and an IV running into his arm. He had one hell of a headache, too. He looked up into the eyes of the pretty lady doctor standing beside his bed.

She looked a little tired and worn out. Probably because of all the wounded that came into the hospital because of the shelling, he thought. To him she was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. She had the loveliest brown eyes to go along with her dark hair. Even through her tired look her eyes had a mischievous twinkle to them, one to match his own.

"Welcome back, how do you feel? I'm Doctor Sullivan, but you can call me Maggie if you like Colonel."

"I feel like I was hit by a semi. My head is pounding. What happened?"

"The base was mortared by the NVA, I guess you were about to leave on a mission. Anyway, a shell hit near you, as you were about to jump into a foxhole. Your leg is torn up pretty bad and you hit your head when you fell into the hole. You have a pretty nasty concussion. You just got your ticket home Colonel"

"How are my men? Where are they?"

About that time Murdock walked in with his arm in a cast, along with Face and BA. They were all in pajamas and robes and covered with bandages of one kind or another.

"Hey Hannibal, welcome back! How do you feel? You had us all worried sick about you." Murdock said with a flourish. "Looks like we all get to go home now."

"How's that Murdock? The war is still going on. I understand my going home, but what about you guys."

"Oh yeah, you haven't heard yet, Morrison was arrested. Seems that he was a spy for the NVA and that mission he gave you guys was a setup. The MP's arrested him this morning. Good thing that you guys didn't get out of here, you might have ended up in the stockade with him. They think he gave the NVA the coordinates for the mortar crews to bomb the base. I guess he won't be seeing daylight for awhile."

"Hannibal?" Dr Sullivan asked, raising her eyebrows. "Where did that name come from?"

"It's a nickname, doc, everybody calls me that. It's a long story; maybe I'll tell you one of these days."

Face, BA and Murdock looked from Dr. Sullivan to Hannibal and back again. Hannibal had a look in his eyes that the team had never seen before and after taking one look at Maggie they saw that same look there as well. It was like they were both on the JAZZ at the same time. It was a different kind of jazz than the guys had ever seen in Hannibal. They couldn't take their eyes off one another. There were definitely sparks flying between them.

"I think we'd better get out of here and let Hannibal get some rest. Catch ya later, Colonel," Face stated. With that he ushered the other guys out.

"I 'll be back later to check on you, Colonel Smith. Get some rest," Maggie ordered. After they all left Hannibal fell back to sleep. Something in this whole situation did not feel right, but he did not know what it was.

"Wake up, Hannibal. It's time to get up," Maggie said as she elbowed Hannibal in the ribs as he was lying in their bed. "It's Tuesday. You run with the men on Tuesday's, General. Now get up so I can go back to sleep."

Hannibal looked up at the ceiling of the room, realizing that it had all a dream, "Gee, thanks a lot." Hannibal said with a serious look on his face.

"What were you dreaming about?" Maggie asked, concerned all of a sudden at his serious expression.

"Nothing, really. It was strange, like what would have happened if we had gone on that mission to Hanoi during the war 15 years ago. I was in jail and we were being tried for the robbery and the murder of Morrison. It was like deja vu. It was like something that should have happened, but didn't. Oh well. It was just a dream, not something to dwell on. I guess I had better get up. It wouldn't be proper for the commanding general to be late, now would it?"

Hannibal got up and dressed." I wonder if David would like to go out with his old man this morning," Hannibal wondered aloud. About the same time the head of a young blond haired boy of about 14 popped into the room.

"Morning dad, ready to go?"

"Gee Hannibal, I guess he just might," Maggie giggled.

Hannibal gave her a wounded look. He headed out of the room with his son.

"See you in a little while, Maggie. I love you."

"Get out of here you, big galoot. I'll see you later."

Maggie sat in bed, thinking about the last fifteen years and when she had first met Hannibal in the hospital after the base had been mortared. It seemed like they had been meant to be together as they had hit is off right from the start. When they had returned to the states and Hannibal had recovered from his wounds, they were married, with Face, BA and Murdock standing beside him. He had been given the command at Ft. Bragg and they had remained with him as members of his staff. They were all married now with families of their own, but they still remained with him. When Hannibal was promoted and transferred to California they came right along as well. Remaining a team.

About a hour later they both returned and Maggie watched them come in with a huge smile on her face. David gave her a big hug. After David had let her go Hannibal grabbed her and looked deep in her eyes. David came up and grabbed both of them.

"You know mom and dad, I love you both."

"We both love you, David" they both replied.

"You know Maggie, I love it when a plan comes together!"

The End


End file.
